🗳 This Week in Governance - November 16: Bots, Laws, and Incentives

A weekly resource covering crypto governance, politics, and power.

Duncan Dobbelmann

Nov 16, 2023

Aragon introduces multichain governance
Metagov soft-launches a governance bot for Discord
The Optimism Collective ratifies the Law of Chains
Arbitrum considers a new incentive program
MakerDAO discusses a governance framework for SubDAOs

Voting Activity (L7)
🗳️ 108,190 ballots
👥 48,219 voters
📜 313 proposals
🌐 63 active DAOs

Query more data using the Governance API

Let’s get into it 🔥

🚀 Announcing the Governance Kit

Governance Simplified for Builders: Discover the Governance Kit
Developers can easily integrate governance functionalities and data into any application or platform to promote governance interactions. You can learn more about the sophisticated yet simple suite of components tailored to provide essential governance information in a digestible format here.

📰 News

Aragon introduces multichain governance

Aragon has integrated with zkSync and LayerZero to introduce multichain governance in Aragon OSx. This new plugin allows DAOs to manage assets and permissions across different Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains from a single mainnet DAO smart contract. Key features include creating a census with tokens across chains using LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token standard, low-cost voting on zkSync, and executing actions across multiple chains simultaneously. The plugin is open-source and undergoing audits, with a planned launch on the no-code Aragon App. This integration enhances the flexibility and efficiency of governance in multichain environments.

Metagov soft-launches a governance bot for Discord

D20 Governance, as Metagov calls it, introduces a Discord bot designed for communities to explore governance games in an LLM-mediated environment. This tool enables groups to engage in governance quests, make decisions, and experience various decision-making mechanisms, moderated by the bot using different "culture modules." Created by researchers from The Metagovernance Project, D20 aims to provide hands-on experiences with governance processes and structures, encouraging intentional design in real-life community systems. The project invites collaboration and creative use cases, such as civic education or conflict mediation, and is in its early stages of development.

📜 Proposals

Recently Closed

Optimism: Ratification of the Law of Chains

The proposal seeks to ratify the Law of Chains, a key governing document for the Optimism Collective. It is not a procedural guide for governance decisions but rather a neutrality framework to inform them, especially in a multi-chain context. The Law of Chains will influence governance processes, such as introducing an Allowlist for sequencers in Season 5, which will be maintained by governance. Sequencers' compliance with the Law of Chains will be crucial for their approval and retention on the Allowlist. If ratified, the Law of Chains will become an addendum to the Working Constitution, and procedures for its implementation will be added to the Operating Manual. Voting ended on November 15th with nearly 100% voting “for.”

Ending Soon

Nouns DAO: Bail Out Lil Nouns DAO

The proposal discusses a transaction to purchase 10 Nouns listed by Lil Nouns DAO for 23 ETH each. This comes after previous proposals to fork Lil Nouns were either not executed or vetoed due to potential risks. Lil Nouns DAO had earlier proposed selling 15 of their Nouns through Zora. The proposed transactions specify the technical details for each of the ten purchases, including the ETH value and the Nouns identifiers. The intent is to assist Lil Nouns DAO if they cannot find buyers for their listed Nouns. Originally scheduled to end on November 16th, the proposal was recently cancelled.

Upcoming

Botto DAO: Period Standardization

This proposal suggests formalizing a "Period" structure and processes for the AI artist DAO, including auction and round structures, buffer weeks between periods, art engine behavior, theme voting, voting process, smart contract, period budgeting, and governance of these elements. The proposal keeps the existing auction and round structure, standardizes a two-week buffer between periods, and maintains the current art engine without changes. Theme voting will continue in its existing format, with any changes requiring a separate proposal. Voting opens on November 20th.

🎙️ Rather Listen?

The Boardroom Roundup brings you the latest DAO news headlines and governance proposals every week:

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📚 Reads

Incentivizing free riders improves collective intelligence in social dilemmas, by Tchernichovski, Frey, Jacoby, and Conley
What Happened to the New Internet? by Bryan Lehrer
The Scout Mindset pt. 2: Governance as Muse, by rileybeans
The Promise and Perils of Corporate Governance-by-Design in Blockchain-Based Collectives: The Case of dOrg, by Morshed Mannan
The Nouns Arb Game, by verbs
Progressive Ownership: A Model for Application Tokens, by Jin and Walden
The State of Aave Governance: Q3 2023, from StableLab

🎧 Listens

Blockchain Meets Impact w/Magenta Ceiba, on Rehash
The Journey of the Uniswap Foundation w/ Devin Walsh, on StablePod

💬 Forums

Aave: Gauntlet <> Aave Renewal 2023

The forum post discusses a proposal for renewing Gauntlet’s engagement with Aave for market risk management. Gauntlet's partnership with Aave, which started in 2021, has helped Aave avoid major insolvencies and expand its services, including support for GHO stability. The renewal covers a broader scope while maintaining the same fee structure, aligned with Aave's strategic initiatives. The proposal includes comprehensive risk management for Aave V2, V3, and GHO, along with an insolvency refund clause as a commitment to their service quality. Forum responses show a mix of support and criticism. Supporters appreciate Gauntlet's proactive risk management and insolvency refund feature, seeing the renewal as just compensation for their services. Critics raise concerns about Gauntlet's responsiveness and pricing compared to other service providers.

Arbitrum: V2 Incentives Program - Working Group (STIP Round 2)

This post from Sushi introduces a working group for creating a V2 incentive program framework, responding to immediate needs of stakeholders. This group aims to build upon the Short Term Incentive Program (STIP) framework, with a focus on representing various stakeholders in the Arbitrum ecosystem. The working group will explore aspects like ROI calculation for different project types, project innovation assessment, eligibility guidelines, and creating a unified budgeting framework. The goal is to form the group and draft the STIP V2 by the end of 2023, aiming to disburse project proposal funds by early 2024.

BanklessDAO: Governance Department S10 proposal

The Governance Department Season 10 proposal outlines its mission to steward governance conversations, aiming to enhance the DAO's efficiency in self-governance. Season 9 activities included working on delegated governance, onchain permissioning, and roles management, while facing challenges in achieving consensus on DAO legal entity and goals alignment. The plan for the next season includes continuing these efforts, with additional focus on constitution revision. The proposed budget for Season 10 totals 644,000 BANK, covering roles, workgroups, and miscellaneous expenses, including specific allocations for the department lead and accountant.

Gitcoin: Towards a More Unified and Impactful Governance Approach

This post discusses potential changes to Gitcoin’s governance structure, specifically reevaluating the monthly stewards call. The aim is to foster a more engaging and participatory governance process. Options considered include transforming the call into a more interactive platform, exploring other engagement methods, or potentially canceling the call. The community is encouraged to share feedback on these options and suggest improvements, such as more interactive discussions, breakout groups, guest speakers, community-led topics, workshop formats, or adjustments in frequency and timing. The goal is to evolve the governance model to be more inclusive and reflective of the collective vision.

Maker: SubDAO Simple Governance Framework

This forum post from StableLab proposes a straightforward governance framework for SubDAOs under MakerDAO, aiming to align with MakerDAO's core principles and existing governance processes. The proposed lifecycle of a proposal begins with ideation and community discussion, progressing to formal vetting on the forum, and if successful, moving to on-chain voting and executive approval. The framework emphasizes community engagement, effective communication, and alignment with MakerDAO's overarching goals. It also suggests areas for improvement and experimentation, such as exploring alternative discussion platforms and automating certain governance processes.

Boardroom